Cyanohydrin cyclization

Enantioselective addition of hydrogen cyanide to hydroxypivaldehyde (25), catalyzed by (lf)-oxynittilase, afforded (R)-cyanohydrin (26) in good optical yield. Acid-catalyzed hydrolysis followed by cyclization resulted in (R)-pantolactone in 98% ee and 95% yield after one recrystallization (56). 

Claisen rearrangement, 660 conjugate carbonyl addition reaction, 725-726 Curtius rearrangement, 935 cyanohydrin formation, 707 dichlorocarbene formation, 227 Dieckmann cyclization reaction, 892-893... 

Cram s open-chain model 229 Cram s rule 229, 233 Cram chelate model 229 Cram cyclic model 229 Cram-Felkin-Anh model 191,207, 236 f 246 cubane 12,318 cyanoacetic acid 636 f. cyanohydrin, protected 145, 150 f. cyclic carbonate protection 541 f., 657, 659 f., 666, 670 cyclization -,6-endo 734 -, 5-exo 733 f. 

Effenberger and coworkers have utilized the tolerance of methyl ketones by the recombinant enzyme to develop an alternative synthesis of tetronic acids and their amino derivatives, as shown in Figure 5.18. Treatment of O-acyl cyanohydrins with lithium disilazide resulted in base-induced ring closure to amino tetronic acid derivatives. Alternatively, the cyanohydrins could be converted to a-hydroxy esters prior to acylation, and the same base-induced cyclization then led to tetronic acid derivatives [89]. 

N-Cyanoguanidine, 35, 69 Cyanohydrin formation, 33, 7 3-Cyano-6-isobutyl-2(l)-pyridone, 32, 34 3-Cyano-6-methyl-2(1)-pyridone, 32, 32 l-Cyano-3-a-naphthylurea, 36, 11 1-Cyano-3-phenylurea, 36, 8 Cyclic acyloins, 36, 82 Cyclization, (3-aminoethylsulfuric acid to ethylenimine, 30, 38 1,2-benzo-3,4-dihydrocarbazole from phenylhydrazine and a-tetralone,... 

Cyclization of cyanohydrins with aliphatic acid anhydrides in the presence of strong acids (pAT < 1) or aromatic acids halides in the presence of SnCl4. 

Schnur and colleagues at Pfizer " " prepared a wide variety of 2,4-oxazoli-dinediones that have been evaluated as hypoglycemic agents and as aldose reductase inhibitors (Tables 6.8, Fig. 6.17 6.9, Fig. 6.18 Fig. 6.19). Several approaches were evaluated including a trimethylsilylcyanide-mediated synthesis of cyanohydrins that were then converted to the corresponding imidates in situ followed by cyclization and work-up. This methodology has been successfully... 

Pyrrole and indole rings can also be constructed by intramolecular addition of nitrogen to a multiple bond activated by metal ion complexation. Thus, 1-aminomethyl-l-alkynyl carbinols (obtained by reduction of cyanohydrins of acetylenic ketones) are cyclized to pyrroles by palladium(II) salts. In this reaction the palladium(II)-complexed alkyne functions as the electrophile with aromatization involving elimination of palladium(II) and water (Scheme 42) (81TL4277). 

A similar method was used for the synthesis of a cyclic cyanohydrin ether 75. The cyclization took place by the intramolecular displacement of the polymer-supported cyanohydrin 74 by treatment with lithium hexa-methyldisilazide (Scheme 21). Target 75 was obtained in 46% yield. While the yield is moderate, a pure product was obtained after a simple workup procedure. The cyanohydrin ether 75 can be readily converted to a cyclic ketone.46... 

A synthesis of this compound was devised by Ohmizu, Iwasaki and co-workers and featured a three-component tandem conjugate addition/enolate trapping as key step (Scheme 12.24) [82]. In this synthesis, the acyl anion equivalent cyanohydrin 165 was first treated with LDA and allowed to react with methyl crotonate 166. The resulting enolate was trapped with 2,3,5-trimethoxy benzylbromide 168 to afford crude intermediate 169, which was immediately deprotected in situ to afford ketone product 170. Both the ester and the ketone functionalities were then reduced at low temperature to afford the corresponding diol 171. Upon treatment with trifluoroacetic acid, the desired Friedel-Craft cyclization adduct 172 was obtained. The latter tricyclic compound was then further elaborated to the final target 164 through a short sequence of standard transformations. 

Chain-extension reactions constitute a more widely used approach. Thus, the cyanohydrin synthesis followed by base-catalyzed cyclization and /1-elimination to iminolactones, which then undergo stepwise hydrolysis, affords 3-deoxy-2-glyculosonic acids.313 The overall yield of this reaction is low. Paerels314 used this method to prepare the first crystalline members of this group, namely 3-deoxy-D-m //iro-hex-2-ulosopyranosonic acid (2-keto-3-deoxy-D-gluconic acid, KDG, 119), and the L isomer, starting from D-ribose and L-arabinose, respectively. The synthesis of 119 is illustrated in Scheme 10. 

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